This marks the fourth annual feature devoted to showcasing international Agency Innovators, and in a year of economic challenges for many parts of the world, we are delighted to report that there are numerous passionate individuals with innovative ideas who continue to drive growth.

Jessica Michaels, mediaedge:cia

Guru may be an overused word today; however, the accolade rightly fits Jessica Michaels in her pioneering work with social networking as a marketing initiative. She leads a team of bright digital media strategists who deploy cutting edge ideas for top multinational clients.

A veteran of this new field, she has spent more than ten years in digital marketing across such category segments as entertainment & gaming, luxury, finance and technology. In addition to her focus on digital strategy for social and emerging media, her experience is vast and includes: web development; content creation, aggregation, production and distribution; hosting and presenting interactive television; mobile strategy; online user experience; SEO; SEM; digital advertising; RM; partnerships and promotions, as well as account management and business development.

And she’s done it all while working on three different continents — North America, Europe and Asia.

Name an innovative idea or business solution for which you are most proud. Developing the first scalable, measurable, integrated media approach to social media marketing for specific Microsoft commercial and consumer business groups.

The Internationalist is grateful to SKY NEWS, who has been the exclusive sponsor of Agency Innovator activities since 2007.